Category Archives: musing

Even if you’re not into hunting, the latest episode of NZ Hunter Adventures (Ep 9, Series 3) is probably of wider interest. It’s viewable online on Choice TV’s website for the next 3 weeks, free registration required. The episode features … Continue reading →

There’s an interesting report on Stuff this evening about a landslide in the upper Tauherenikau catchment of the Tararua, which has created a new lake in the catchment surrounded by the Dress Circle and Alpha. The new lake was reported … Continue reading →

Lou Sanson, Director-General of DOC, was on TV3/Newshub this evening. He was talking about the possibility of charging for entry to certain National Parks. The angle of the report from Samantha Hayes was that New Zealand should charge more for … Continue reading →

Before I launch into this, I’ll insert a word for one of the best presentations I’ve ever seen on how the world’s going, and the impact we’ve had on it. Less than a week before his death in May 2001, … Continue reading →

Last March I expressed my views here on calls to add more charges in various forms to parks and their facilities, and particularly on differential charging for tourists. Recently this topic has been refreshed in media. It might be because … Continue reading →

On Friday 22nd October, 2016 (last couple of paragraphs): Pouakai Hut Meanwhile, police also rescued two people who had got lost on the Pouakai track on Friday. The pair were reached at Pouakai Hut on Friday afternoon, and were walked … Continue reading →

New Zealand has a great official mapping system in place, thanks to Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) having a mandate to produce and maintain consistent, national topographic mapping. Since 2009, this mandate has materialised in the Topo50 and Topo250 map … Continue reading →

From the Herald about a week ago: Three young men took a wrong turn at the Red Crater Summit and wound up heading along a ridge to Mt Tongariro’s summit in 70km/h winds, with icy rain falling, snow underfoot and … Continue reading →

There was a report a couple of days back of some people being rescued in Kahurangi National Park, having activated a personal locator beacon. The three women […] had been tramping on the Leslie-Karamean track when they became stranded on … Continue reading →

I’ve only been reluctantly following the recent winter incident on the Routeburn track, where a man slipped and fell, eventually dying. His partner stayed with him in freezing temperatures for several days as he died, then made her way slowly … Continue reading →